Sponsored By

Monday, July 2, 2007

Why the iPhone should be unlocked and SIM-Free

There's a great article over at allaboutsymbian entitled Unlocking the Mobile Phone: Why we need to go SIM-Free.It explains why myths such as "Phones need phone network operators, that's why they have unusual pricing arrangements" is simply not true. Well worth reading!

3 comments:

James Hasik
said...

I have so far heard only two reasons that seem to explain why Apple has chosen to lock US iPhones to AT&T: (1) the rumored revenue sharing agreement, or the (2) highly specific server-side implementation of visual voicemail. If the answer is (1), then so be it: I could just wait until iPhones come available in France. If the answer is (2), then we'll know soon enough, when someone in France tries to use one on another carrier. Or, am I missing something here?

first to address the above comment:you are missing something. you have to wait until Apple sells iPhones in France. Which won't happen soon enough.

Which segues directly into my comment on this post: Apple will do the exact same thing to the mobile connectivity business as it did to the music industry:bend over and play nice (and force its clients to do the same) until the market demand for the device is so high that the carriers (service suppliers, in the music industry's case, the record labels) eventually have no choice to do so themselves (turn around and bend over ;). Remember, Apple came out and said "sorry, we're not really into DRMing our music anymore...

It'll take about a year, maybe two, before Apple tells carriers: "we don't need you, you need us. Our devices are unlocked from here on out. If you want iPhone users (who use enormous amounts of billable bandwidth), you'll just say ok."

Key leverage in the music case was the iTunes Store. I would not be surpised to see Apple go in and start offering wireless service themselves, brokering a rebranded service agreement with large carriers... hrm.